Copy NTFS to Fat 32

[Ed Moo]

Hope I am not a hypocrit for asking this here.!
Bought a used Dell which already had XP on it but HD formatted as NTFS
There is no disc for thye XP

Had hoped to set this up as a dual booth with Ubuntu Linux. But Ubuntu
only works in FAT32.

My question: If I used Norton ghost to copy the XP onto a back up drive,
would it be possible to reformatt the existing drive to FAT32, then
ghost the image back onto so that I end up with XP on a FAT32??

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Hope I am not a hypocrit for asking this here.!
Bought a used Dell which already had XP on it but HD formatted as
NTFS There is no disc for thye XP

Had hoped to set this up as a dual booth with Ubuntu Linux. But
Ubuntu only works in FAT32.

My question: If I used Norton ghost to copy the XP onto a back up
drive, would it be possible to reformatt the existing drive to
FAT32, then ghost the image back onto so that I end up with XP on a
FAT32??

No. You get the file system with the image.

 

[Malke]

Hope I am not a hypocrit for asking this here.!
Bought a used Dell which already had XP on it but HD formatted as NTFS
There is no disc for thye XP

Had hoped to set this up as a dual booth with Ubuntu Linux. But
Ubuntu only works in FAT32.

My question: If I used Norton ghost to copy the XP onto a back up
drive, would it be possible to reformatt the existing drive to FAT32,
then ghost the image back onto so that I end up with XP on a FAT32??

Any comments would be appreciated.

To answer the immediate question - no.

It isn't that Ubuntu "only works in FAT32". Linux does not use FAT32 as
a native file system. It is that it is not supported for any Linux
distro to *write* to NTFS. There was a Captive project to write an NTFS
driver for Linux, but it has been abandoned. When dual-booting any *nix
with Windows, it is a good idea to make a smaller "buffer" FAT32
partition for shared data.

You can convert NTFS to FAT32 with a third-party program like Partition
Magic. I don't know how successful that will be and if you decide to do
this, I'd definitely back up your data first. Otherwise, you could use
Partition Magic - or other third-party partitioning program - to create
the FAT32 "buffer" partition if you have enough space on your hard
drive. Another thing you could do is add a smaller slave hard drive to
your machine and format it FAT32, or add a larger second hard drive to
host both the FAT32 "buffer" partition and Linux.

Malke

 

[Shane]

Hope I am not a hypocrit for asking this here.!
Bought a used Dell which already had XP on it but HD formatted as NTFS
There is no disc for thye XP

Had hoped to set this up as a dual booth with Ubuntu Linux. But Ubuntu
only works in FAT32.

My question: If I used Norton ghost to copy the XP onto a back up drive,
would it be possible to reformatt the existing drive to FAT32, then
ghost the image back onto so that I end up with XP on a FAT32??

Any comments would be appreciated.

As Shenan says, no, you can't do that.

However, you could download BootItNG from Terabyte Unlimited and partition
the drive with it during the trial period, shrinking the XP volume and
formatting the new volume (partition) as FAT32.

However, you then need to use a boot manager. Lilo would do the trick, as
typically supplied in a Linux distro, but I don't know about Ubuntu.

Shane

 

[Jim]

Hope I am not a hypocrit for asking this here.!
Bought a used Dell which already had XP on it but HD formatted as NTFS
There is no disc for thye XP

Had hoped to set this up as a dual booth with Ubuntu Linux. But Ubuntu
only works in FAT32.

What does the compatibility of Linux w/ FAT32 or NTFS have to do w/ dual
booting XP and Linux? It's ONLY an issue *if* you expect to be able to
access data/files across OS installation during boot-up. But you actually
never said this was your intention, at best, it was only implied by your
question. Even if this is your intent, I'd follow the suggestion of others
and create a THIRD shared FAT32 partition for this purpose. One OS
partition really has no business having access to the other OS's partition
under most circumstances. When this happens, even by accident (e.g., the
partition type is recognized by each OS, and thus gets a drive letter
assignment), it's usually not a good idea. In fact, many ppl have to
install a boot/partition manager to muck w/ the partition IDs to actually
FORCE this to happen. If XP and Linux, based on their partition types,
can't see each other, consider yourself lucky! You've happened into dual
boot nirvana by pure happenstance!

Jim

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hope I am not a hypocrit for asking this here.!

A "hypocrite" is someone who says one thing, but does another. For
instance, a parent who tells his children that it's wrong to lie, and
then falsifies his income tax return. Asking a technical question, as
you're doing, doesn't qualify.

Bought a used Dell which already had XP on it but HD formatted as NTFS
There is no disc for thye XP

Had hoped to set this up as a dual booth with Ubuntu Linux. But Ubuntu
only works in FAT32.

My question: If I used Norton ghost to copy the XP onto a back up drive,
would it be possible to reformatt the existing drive to FAT32, then
ghost the image back onto so that I end up with XP on a FAT32??

No, this cannot be accomplished with disk imaging software, as the
restored image would naturally have the same file system as the
partition from which it was created; NTFS, in this case.

If you wish to reinstall WinXP onto a FAT32 partition, you'll have to
acquire an installation CD.

Alternatively, you should be able to use a 3rd party partitioning and
boot manager to resize the existing NTFS partition, create the necessary
FAT32 partition from the newly created free space, and then manage the
dual-boot installation.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[_DG]

It isn't that Ubuntu "only works in FAT32". Linux does not use FAT32 as
a native file system. It is that it is not supported for any Linux
distro to *write* to NTFS. There was a Captive project to write an NTFS
driver for Linux, but it has been abandoned.

I've always wondered about this. If NTFS is a superior file system,
why does Linux support only FAT32?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

It isn't that Ubuntu "only works in FAT32". Linux does not use
FAT32 as a native file system. It is that it is not supported for
any Linux distro to *write* to NTFS. There was a Captive project
to write an NTFS driver for Linux, but it has been abandoned.

I've always wondered about this. If NTFS is a superior file system,
why does Linux support only FAT32?

NTFS for Linux is not a dead project.
The difference between FAT32 and NTFS is that NTFS is still evolving and the
code for it was not readily available.
Not to mention that while FAT32 is a relatively simple file system (no
security, etc) - NTFS is more complex - with file and directory permissions,
etc.

More information on NTFS project for Linux:
http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Ed Moo wrote:

Either the seller stiffed you, or the PC builder stiffed the old
owner. MS is happy as long as they get paid, so the second situation
is quite likely - the bigger the PC builder's "name", the more likely.

That's clarified in a later post.

No. XP is too fragile to survive a file-level copy, unlike Win9x, and
a partition image copy will retain the same file system. You can use
3rd-party tools to resize this partition, and change from FATxx to
NTFS, but there's no non-destructive way back from NTFS to FATxx as
such a facility would undermine NTFS-based security permissions.

No. You get the file system with the image.

If Dell provide no controllable installation CD, then you are chained
to their original file system choice. Dell may like that, MS may like
that, you won't. Guess who wins?

I'd resize that C: downwards, create a new partition for Ubuntu, and
carefully install Ubuntu there. Carefully? Yep, because a quick
rush-through is likely to wipe the XP partition!

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[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

I've always wondered about this. If NTFS is a superior file system,
why does Linux support only FAT32?

FATxx is a standard, while NTFS is not. MS can, and do, change NTFS
during the evolution of the NT OS family, even from one Service Pack
to another, and have not documented it at the raw bytes level. Plus
there's the usual licensing prohibition on "reverse engineering" to
threaten anyone who tries to fill the gap that MS has created.

That's why the Capture project sought to shell the OS's own NTFS
driver code, so that file system compatibility would be assured, even
if this had drifted with SPs, hotfixes or whatever. The downside is
that any malware or file corruption within these driver code files
would be in effect (though malware might not be effective) in Linux.

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